


call me when you hear this song

by palateens



Series: Grand Larsony [4]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Future Fic, M/M, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 03:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10528398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/pseuds/palateens
Summary: Logically, he knows that things shouldn’t fall back in place so easily. But he’s in love, and only human.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Ransom Week
> 
> Prompt: Human

After Jack breaks up with them, everyone acts like nothing’s happened. Well, they did around everyone else. They acted like nothing was monumental. As if the security and love they’d built for each other hadn’t been ripped off like a band aid. Maybe they should’ve said something, maybe they should’ve regrouped. It Jack didn’t want them then fine. But they could’ve stuck together.

At least, that’s how it felt in hindsight. During the aftermath, everything felt wrong. There were so many times that Shitty left the room when Jack entered. Not even Bitty seemed to notice. There were countless moments where Justin wanted to pull Larissa into his arms. Moments when he could see how hard she was trying to keep everything together. But then Shitty gave her his dibs, and things seemed better. Things seemed to melt back to normal for those two.

It was a declaration of love, he’d thought at the time. Nowadays, he’s more likely to understand it as Shitty settling. It was him knowing they’d all find a way to lock each other down, like Jack would Bitty. So, he reminded Lardo how important she was to the team, to him. It was Shitty giving her the security she had desperately wanted at the time. It wasn’t a bad thing to do. It wasn’t wrong or unnecessary either. Shitty had made his choice. Go with the flow; don’t detract from the path Jack had set the down.

So, it was only a coincidence when Ransom finds himself too exhausted to make it up to his bed at night. It’s only quiet resignation the way he and Adam close shelter each other at night. The way they go on double dates and generally find hook ups for each other only to go home and sleep in the same bed. They didn’t know how to be monogamous with each other, so why start now?

Justin thinks it’s only a matter of time until Adam meets someone. Someone new away from all the drama of the Haus. Someone who doesn’t know what polyamory or bisexuality really mean. Someone nice to settle down with as he uses his Econ major for some safe corporate job. He ignores the way his chest aches at the thought of life after Holster.

Maybe he didn’t love Jack anymore. Maybe he didn’t love Shitty at all. Maybe he’d get over the pain of losing Lardo someday. But he couldn’t fathom getting over Holster. Holster was long drives home and trips to late night trips timmies. It was watching Niagara Falls as if they hadn’t seen it a thousand times before. He was cuddling to watch another dumb sitcom, and watching as the complaints gradually slipped away. It was introducing his family to his best friend, and knowing that statement would never be a lie. Maybe they would change, just like everyone else had. But for now, they were Justin and Adam—Ransom and Holster. They were the best defensemen in the entire NCAA. They were kind of perfect for each other.

He waits for the other shoe to drop, for Holster to announce that he’s staying in Boston. He takes the MCAT and he ignores how little he hears from Holster the first half of the summer. Then he gets a call.

“Hypothetically speaking,” Holster begins without as much as hello. “What if we moved in together after graduation?” 

“You mean,” he sighs. Ransom doesn’t want to get his hopes up. “Tell me what you mean, bro.”

“I mean move in for real,” “Like adopt a cat, send holiday cards, and make everyone on Facebook sick of how happy we are together.”

“You want that,” Ransom reiterates hopefully.

“Look, this is probably a shitty time to say this—” Holster clears his throat, “but I love you, Justin. I’m in love with you.”

It sounds so easy. Justin realizes that this is what he was waiting for, the other shoe to drop. “I love you too,” he swears.

Because how could he not? Wasn’t that what had consumed him for six months now? the fear that if Jack hadn’t loved him enough to stay, Adam wouldn’t either. 

“I really wanna kiss you right now,” Holster murmurs.

“Same, bro,” Ransom feels his throat tighten and his breath hitch. “Where are you?”

“Almost boarding my flight home,” Holster responds casually.

Which is the last thing Ransom expected to hear. “From where?”

“Prospect camp?”

Ransom gasps, “no way. You’re serious.”

Holster grunts. Ransom imagines the way he scratches his chin, forming his sentences before he puts his foot in his mouth.

“Last semester sucked,” he preambles.

“You can say that again,” Justin rolls his eyes.

“I know, but listen,” Adam rushes to say. “It sucked ass. But you know what didn’t suck? Hockey and coming home to you.”

“Bro,” it comes out like a gasp, like the term of all consuming love it’s meant to be.

“I have no fucking clue if we can move somewhere,” Holster confides. “But I wanna try. Don’t you?”

Justin doesn’t have to think. “Totally.”

Holster drives over two days later. Ransom doesn’t remember the last time they spent an afternoon just kissing. They talk about everything. They talk about the breakup. They talk about what to do now that everyone’s moved on. They talk about med schools, and teams interested in Adam. Ransom applies for schools, and Holster plans with his agent.

They learn how to be upfront with each other; how to manage what they need to say with what they think is right. Graduation is right around the corner, and it feels like life is falling into place. Ransom gets into Johns Hopkins. The next week, Holster signs with the Washington Capitals. They won’t be able to sleep in the same bed every night. They negotiate how to make long distance work and how to keep communicating. Ransom always knows where Holster is. And more importantly, he knows that Holster’s got his back. He goes to med school in the fall.

They make time to come up for Bitty’s last Hausgiving. The Frogs got their act together, and they have each other and Farmer. Justin’s heart aches when he watches them together. Finally, he thinks, someone got it right. He thought he’d get over loosing Larissa, but it still hurts to see her. She laughs and chirps with the boys and Ford as if she never left. She’s still queen of the castle. Ransom thinks she’ll always be the queen of his heart. It’s foolish. But when his eyes meet Adam’s, he remembers that he’s not the only one.

School picks up, as does hockey. Justin blinks and suddenly he’s starting his third year. He’s doing well. Better than well, he’s thriving. Adam comes home from a game, chirping how much he missed the couch. Justin laughs as if he hasn’t made the same joke ten times before. They heat up leftovers together before settling on the couch. Justin finds himself asking for a specific episode of _30 Rock_ and laughs at far they’ve come.

They settle into bed and he thinks this is what all that bullshit was for, a chance at happiness with his best friend. Still, he was only human.

“Do you ever miss her,” Ransom murmurs.

“A lot more than I should,” Holster divulges.

“Same,” he agrees.

They lay there for a while. Starring at the grooves of the ceiling as if they were stars in the open sky. “You think she’s happy?”

“I don’t know,” Adam frowns. “She wasn’t around last time I went up there.”

Lardo didn’t go to games anymore, neither did Shitty or Bitty. The commute was a bitch. It was nothing personal, so Ransom and Holster make a point not to be offended.

“I love you,” Ransom reminds him. A few hook ups here and there didn’t amount to love. Justin needed Adam to know that he’s more than enough.

“I love you too,” Holster reaches over, pulling Ransom into his arms. “I get it. Don’t worry. There’ll never be another Lardo.”

Justin nods. It’s just the way things go, he lectures himself.

The next week he wakes up at five am like every other day. He runs with Adam, they have breakfast together and Adam leaves for practice. He goes to the hospital and classes. He comes home at five pm ready to make dinner. He hadn’t planned on coming home to find Larissa Duan sitting in front of his apartment. It takes him longer than it should to realize that she’s here to stay. Logically, he knows that things shouldn’t fall back in place so easily. But he’s in love, and only human.

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title - lyrics from Human by Jon Bellion
> 
> Side note: if you go to [my Grand Larsony tag on Tumblr](http://abominableobriens.tumblr.com/tagged/grand%20larsony) there's a lot of extra content that isn't getting posted here yet. And feel free to say hi if you're on there. I love talking about these three.


End file.
